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Nick Virgilio
Nicholas Anthony Virgilio (June 28, 1928 - January 3, 1989) was an American poet, an internationally recognized haiku writer credited with helping to popularize the form in the United States. Life Virgilio was born in Camden, New Jersey, the oldest of 3 sons of Anthony Virgilio, an accomplished violinist, and Rose (Alemi), a seamstress. He grew up in Camden's Fairwiew section, where he lived much of his life. He graduated from Camden High School, served in the Navy during World War II, and then earned a B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia Virgilio began his career as a radio announcer and, as "Nickaphonic Nick", worked as a disc jockey with Philadelphia's Jerry Blavat. He moved to Texas in the late 1950s to become a sports broadcaster. Virgilio moved back to Camden following a bad love affair in Texas.A Life of the Poet, reprinted from the 1991 Nicholas Virgilio Memorial Book by Kathleen O'Toole and Dwight Wilson He discovered haiku in 1962 in a book at the library at the Camden campus of Rutgers University. His earliest published haiku appeared in The American Haiku magazine in 1963, and he wrote thousands, many unpublished, during his 20-plus-year career.[http://nickvirgilio.rutgers.edu/htm/poems/un_haiku.htm Nick Virgilio's Uncollected Haiku] in the Nick Virgilio Poetry Project. Virgilio became well known after a review on National Public Radio, and appeared often on that network as a guest commentator. He was a member of Camden's Sacred Heart Church and helped to found the Walt Whitman Center for the Arts and Humanities (now the Walt Whitman Arts Center), where he also served as its artistic director and poet in residence. Virgilio was a long-standing member of the Haiku Society of America and was the co-director of the First International Haiku Festival, held in 1971 in Philadelphia.Trumbull, Charles. "The American Haiku Movement. Part I: Haiku in English" in Modern Haiku, 36:3, Autumn 2005. Virgilio said in an interview with Moss-Coane on "Radio Times," "I try to make my life count for something. We all have these tragic experiences, and life basically is tragic, nobody lives happily ever after. So what I hope to do is to uplift it and bring it into the realm of beauty." Until his death, Virgilio had a program on WKDN-FM, a radio station in Camden. He died on January 3, 1989, of a heart attack while taping an interview about haiku for the CBS News Nightwatch television program.[http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/05/obituaries/nick-virgilio-60-poet-known-for-his-haiku.html "Nick Virgilio, 60, Poet Known for His Haiku", New York Times, January 5, 1989.] He is buried at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden.Campbell, Douglas A. "MEMORIAL DEDICATED TO CAMDEN POET FRIENDS OF NICK VIRGILIO RAISED MONEY FOR THE MONUMENT. YESTERDAY THEY READ HAIKU AT HIS GRAVE.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 24, 1991, p. B01. Accessed September 24, 2007. "Haiku, the poetry Nick Virgilio wrote, is filled with imagery. Yesterday at Camden's Harleigh Cemetery where, under heavy skies, a Virgilio memorial was dedicated by 100 friends, the images abounded." His well-known "Lily" haiku is engraved upon his gravestone: Writing The death of Virgilio's youngest brother Larry in the Vietnam War inspired some poignant and powerful haiku, and made his reputation as a haiku elegist. He is quoted by haiku author and book editor Cor van den Heuvel as saying he wrote haiku "to get in touch with the real".Van den Heuvel, Cor (editor). The Haiku Anthology, third edition, p. xi. Norton, 1999. ISBN 0-393-32118-5. Virgilio experimented with the haiku form, trying several innovations that were adopted by many other American haiku poets, including dropping the traditional 5-7-5 syllable count in favor of shorter lines. He included rhyme in his haiku along with the gritty reality of urban America. A collection of his selected haiku was published in 1985. The 2nd (expanded) edition appeared just months before his death and has been ranked among the most influential single-author books in English-language haiku . Turtle Light Press published a volume in 2012 – Nick Virgilio: A life in haiku -- that features 30 of Virgilio's classics haiku, 100 previously unpublished poems, 2 of his essays on the art of haiku, an interview with him on Marty Moss-Coane's WHYY show, "Radio Times," a tribute by Michael Doyle, family photos, and reproductions of some of his original manuscript pages. Publications Poetry *''Selected Haiku''. Sherbrooke, QC: Burnt Lake Press, 1988. Collected editions *''Nick Virgilio: A life in haiku''. Arlington, VA : Turtle Light Press, 2012. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Nicholas A. Virgilio, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 2, 2019. See also *English-language Haiku poets *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Selected haiku ;Books *Nick Virgilio: A Life in Haiku - Turtle Light Press. *Nicholas A. Virgilio at Amazon.com ;About *Essay on Nick Virgilio by Rev. Michael Doyle, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Camden *The Nick Virgilio Poetry Project at Rutgers University Camden Campus. * ;Etc. *Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition for Grades 7-12 - Haiku Society of America. Category:1928 births Category:1989 deaths Category:American poets Category:English-language haiku poets Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American people of Italian descent Category:People from Camden, New Jersey Category:Temple University alumni